Binary black holes gone MAD: Magnetically arrested minidisks around nonspinning black holes

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Manikantan, Vikram, Paschalidis, Vasileios
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Manikantan, Vikram
Paschalidis, Vasileios
author_facet Manikantan, Vikram
Paschalidis, Vasileios
contents We demonstrate the formation of magnetically arrested minidisks (MAM) around equal-mass, nonspinning binary black holes with magnetohydrodynamic simulations of circumbinary disk accretion in full 3+1 general relativity. The initial separation of $d\sim 30\,M$ allows the black holes to host large minidisks that suppress the total rest-mass accretion rate variability, which is modulated primarily at $\sim 1.6 \, f_{\rm orb}$. Each black hole horizon saturates with dimensionless magnetic flux $ϕ\sim 30$. Magnetic reconnection near the horizons drives recurrent eruptions which are expected to drive flaring in the infrared and X-ray bands. Our results establish MAMs as a new outcome of circumbinary disk accretion, and a promising source of novel electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational waves from binary black holes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_18254
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Binary black holes gone MAD: Magnetically arrested minidisks around nonspinning black holes
Manikantan, Vikram
Paschalidis, Vasileios
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
We demonstrate the formation of magnetically arrested minidisks (MAM) around equal-mass, nonspinning binary black holes with magnetohydrodynamic simulations of circumbinary disk accretion in full 3+1 general relativity. The initial separation of $d\sim 30\,M$ allows the black holes to host large minidisks that suppress the total rest-mass accretion rate variability, which is modulated primarily at $\sim 1.6 \, f_{\rm orb}$. Each black hole horizon saturates with dimensionless magnetic flux $ϕ\sim 30$. Magnetic reconnection near the horizons drives recurrent eruptions which are expected to drive flaring in the infrared and X-ray bands. Our results establish MAMs as a new outcome of circumbinary disk accretion, and a promising source of novel electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational waves from binary black holes.
title Binary black holes gone MAD: Magnetically arrested minidisks around nonspinning black holes
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.18254